Joking out loud: A look at comedy website The Viral Fever

The Viral Fever, a humour-filled online site, is making quite a statement with its videos, many of which are going viral

There’s a pretty good chance that you know what The Viral Fever (TVF) is but if you don’t, do what people nowadays do: Google.

A grab from The Viral Fever’s latest fare.

You’ll be led to a page full of spoofs, mash-ups and witty sketches. Recently, its comedy section, TVF Qtiyapa uploaded a video titled Bollywood Aam Aadmi Party : Arnab’s Qtiyapa — spoofing Arnab Goswami and Arvind Kejriwal in equal measure. It has grossed over 19 lakh views. However, it’s not the first time this online portal has been associated with the term ‘viral’.

Founder Arunabh Kumar

On the contrary, TVF has stayed true to its name for quite some time now with over four lakh subscribers — Anurag Kashyap being one of them — thus making it the country’s biggest online youth entertainment network.

Created by Arunabh Kumar in early 2012, TVF has been constantly upgrading its parodies and related online humour in the country. So much so it was the only content creator from India at the first-ever global YouTube Fanfest held in Singapore last year. Interestingly, the variety it offers in terms of entertainment is worth a dekko. “Nobody is spared,” laughs Kumar before explaining how a subject is chosen for a video, “We go by the gut. Whenever we really feel that we want to say something and it may make for a fabulous content, we take a call. Both the criteria have to be satisfied. We will not make a spoof just to mock someone. We neither make a parody just because we don’t agree to something.”

TVF used to be a one-man-army before fellow creative folks joined Kumar, an IITian who was very interested in dramatics. As of today, the TVF Group has a total team of 24 with 13 of them working full time and 11 as consultants in Mumbai and Delhi. “We’ll soon have an office in Bangalore as well,” adds the 30-year-old.Much of this success story can attributed to the rise of social media in India but a greater aspect lies in the youth. In his quest to shoot and upload videos from across the country, Kumar has observed at close quarters the change in attitude. “Our country is getting younger and people are learning to laugh at themselves. India is a very funny country without a sense of humor,” says Kumar.

Best of the lot

'Gane Wala Song'This one even surpassed MTV Rowdies in terms of virality. Shot in less than a day, the spoof on Student of the Year ironically had the blessings of the film’s producer, Karan Johar.

'Ek Thi Behan'Half the TVF team was on leave during the making of this video and yet it was completed in 16 hours. A parallel take on the Bollywood film Ek Thi Daayan, the video received accolades for its finesse.

'Republic Day Quiz'Nobody from the main TVF team was involved in this video as TVF Recycle Bin was assigned this project. Pitting Delhi against Mumbai, youngsters from both the cities were asked questions pertaining to the cities.

'Emotional Atyacharge'TVF has a content division thanks to this video. It got almost half a million views in less than four days and then went on to million plus views. A humourous take on modern relationships.